Ex-Premier League referee explains why Man United weren’t awarded Joel Ward handball vs Crystal Palace

Manchester United lost 1-0 against Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon and again VAR was the centre of attention.

Erik ten Hag’s side were not good enough to take something from the game, and lost their fifth game of the season.

However, one moment led to controversy after Crystal Palace defender Joel Ward handled the ball inside his own box.

A long ball was played to Marcus Rashford in behind the Palace defence, and the United winger would’ve had time to touch and shoot if the ball had not deflected off Ward’s hand.

The English defender could be seen looking at the ball over his shoulder just before he turned away and it came off his hand but ex-Premier League referee Dermott Gallagher agreed with the on-field decision to not award the penalty.

The former official, who regularly appears on the weekly Sky Sports show ‘Ref Watch’ explained that the arm being close to the body is why it was not a decision that could not be overturned.

“I never, ever thought that this would be given,” he stated.

“It strikes him, there’s no doubt about that, but I think his arm is tucked in… it’s just never going to be a penalty for me.”

Referee controversy is at the forefront of the Premier League this season and is even more talked about after Liverpool’s disallowed goal against Tottenham Hotspur on the weekend.

Luis Diaz’s goal was ruled offside by the assistant referee before those on VAR duties did not correct the incorrect decision. It was said that miscommunication led to the Stockley Park-based officials believing that the on-field decision was a goal.

PGMOL’s statement read: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool. The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.

“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.

“PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.”

United games this season, like many others, have been dominated by talk around VAR decisions. Alejandro Garnacho’s shot which was blocked by Cristian Romero’s hand vs Spurs was not awarded as a penalty.

Andre Onana also got away with a penalty incident himself on the opening weekend against Wolves after he fouled a player inside his own box in the closing minutes, but VAR did not correct the on-field decision, something which later led to an apology from Howard Webb.